The Luck Surface Area Principle

Luck Surface Area principle, credited to Jason Roberts, states that increments of luck in a certain field of interest, can be achieved by doing and telling about it.

The Formula

The recipe may not sound new to many—the concept is ABC for influence and advertising—but what I found interesting, is its simplicity, that makes it easy to rememeber and explain, and its applicability to personal branding.

L = D * T

Doing

Doing not only gets stuff done, but builds credibility. It also favors skills development and stamina. Achievements obtained by doing, help sustain high levels of motivation.

Telling

Telling clearly expose our interests to advice, praise, criticism. Not everyone needs to buy in, but in my belief genuine interest over gratuitous endorsment has some clear emotional advantages. You likely won't blame a person for being enthusiast, she will remain consistent and therefore attract other like-minded people. Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful way to win people attention.

Expect a return in opportunities. Someone may be interested in your work, you migh get in touch with other's work, new edges may arise, on which to work on. The business benefits either way.

Roberts in this regard uses a wise adjective for telling: effectively. There are many aspects to take into account for communicating effectively, explaining them would require an entire book. For instance, you don't want to focus on the wrong target, you might loose them at all.

Connecting the dots

The nice thing about personal development principles, is that you can mash them up and make assumptions.

You might be familiar with the 1% rule. It states that only 1% of people on the Internet are creators, 9% are contributors and the rest are lurkers. This applied to the Luck Surface Area principle, are themselves enough to explain the importance that bloggers, youtubers and influencers, had in the latest years.